A photo of Serenity, the child at the centre of a case now before the Alberta court.Supplied

Wetaskiwin — A couple charged with failing to provide the necessaries of life in connection with the case of a four-year-old girl will stand trial, a judge ordered Wednesday after a preliminary hearing.

The judge’s decision comes after a multi-week preliminary hearing that began in early February for the great-aunt and great-uncle of Serenity — a four-year-old who died at Stollery Children’s Hospital in September 2014. Her case rocked Alberta’s child welfare system when details of her life and death were revealed later.

Serenity, who had earlier been in foster care, was placed with the relatives as part of a kinship care arrangement. She died Sept. 27, 2014, nine days after she was taken to hospital, after being taken off life support.

Postmedia is not identifying the co-accused because doing so could identify Serenity’s siblings, who were also in care. Alberta’s child welfare legislation prohibits media from identifying children who have been in government care.

The two were jointly charged in October 2017 with one count of failing to provide the necessaries of life. RCMP later clarified that Serenity’s death is not considered criminal in nature and that the charge is related to the “circumstances and conditions” in which she lived while in their care.

Preliminary hearings are held to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to warrant a trial. Evidence given during such inquiries is covered by a publication ban.

The hearing, which heard from 31 witnesses, concluded after 15 days on Wednesday.

Provincial court Judge W.A. Andreassen ordered the two to stand trial during an afternoon hearing.

Serenity’s story led the provincial government to pass Bill 18 — a piece of legislation called the Child Protection and Accountability Act. The act requires the province’s child and youth advocate’s office to carry out a public review every time a child who has received intervention services within the previous two years dies.

The co-accused are scheduled to appear in court April 9 for an arraignment hearing.

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